This 16-episode series with 60+ minutes in each episode is a real gem due to the superb acting, screenplay, cinematography, and directing.
Baek Hee-sung is actually Do Hyun-soo, the son of a serial killer who took the blame for his sister's killing in self-defense and ran away, being now sought for murder. Adrift for awhile, he is accidentally run over by his father's accomplice, Baek Hee-sung, who tries to bury the still breathing Hyun-soo when his mother surprises him in the act. She stabs her murderous son and both parents decide to have the recovered Hyun-soo take the place of Baek Hee-sung, while the real Baek Hee-sung lies hidden in a coma.
The new Baek Hee-sung meets headstrong Cha Ji-won, who woos him until they marry.
Fast forward about 14 years. Hee-sung and Ji-won, a police detective, have a daughter and live in a house with a metal workshop, where Hee-sung crafts jewelry. Hee-sung works hard at playacting the happy husband, although he is a truly loving father to the daughter. His world comes to a crashing halt when he is recognized as the suspected killer Do Hyun-soo by a reporter and his wife takes on the cold murder case.
The story commences with tragic twists, surprises, false leads, and mistakes, as reporter, detective-wife, the detective's team, Hee-sung's parents, the real Hee-sung (having woken from his coma), Hyun-soo's sister, a distraught taxi driver seeking his wife who was the last victim of Hyun-soo's murderous father, and of course Hyun-soo himself try to outsmart the other. Everyone is hiding something from the others, but the viewer knows what's going on for the most part.
In the end, justice is served to the murder accomplice, but not before Hyun-soo is shot in the head and survives with amnesia, having returned in his memories to the fateful car accident from 15 years ago. He learns that he had been committing identity theft and no longer trusts himself to be a good guy (he never trusted himself before but had learned to truly love his wife thanks to her nearly unwavering support for him during the hunt-and-chase ordeal). His wife is distraught, but finally decides to let him go. That's when he realizes that he may be able to rekindle his feelings for her, but this time as a genuine person who doesn't have to playact anymore.
That's why the amnesia is so important. It allows the story to make a clean cut between Hyun-soo's suffering as suspected murderer in hiding and phony husband and his new life as innocent victim of false accusations and even near-hero who has to learn to feel emotions for himself. We only see a glimpse of these new feelings in the end, with Ji-won, his wife, slowly accepting that maybe not all hope is lost to transition into a genuine loving marriage and family.
Baek Hee-sung is actually Do Hyun-soo, the son of a serial killer who took the blame for his sister's killing in self-defense and ran away, being now sought for murder. Adrift for awhile, he is accidentally run over by his father's accomplice, Baek Hee-sung, who tries to bury the still breathing Hyun-soo when his mother surprises him in the act. She stabs her murderous son and both parents decide to have the recovered Hyun-soo take the place of Baek Hee-sung, while the real Baek Hee-sung lies hidden in a coma.
The new Baek Hee-sung meets headstrong Cha Ji-won, who woos him until they marry.
Fast forward about 14 years. Hee-sung and Ji-won, a police detective, have a daughter and live in a house with a metal workshop, where Hee-sung crafts jewelry. Hee-sung works hard at playacting the happy husband, although he is a truly loving father to the daughter. His world comes to a crashing halt when he is recognized as the suspected killer Do Hyun-soo by a reporter and his wife takes on the cold murder case.
The story commences with tragic twists, surprises, false leads, and mistakes, as reporter, detective-wife, the detective's team, Hee-sung's parents, the real Hee-sung (having woken from his coma), Hyun-soo's sister, a distraught taxi driver seeking his wife who was the last victim of Hyun-soo's murderous father, and of course Hyun-soo himself try to outsmart the other. Everyone is hiding something from the others, but the viewer knows what's going on for the most part.
In the end, justice is served to the murder accomplice, but not before Hyun-soo is shot in the head and survives with amnesia, having returned in his memories to the fateful car accident from 15 years ago. He learns that he had been committing identity theft and no longer trusts himself to be a good guy (he never trusted himself before but had learned to truly love his wife thanks to her nearly unwavering support for him during the hunt-and-chase ordeal). His wife is distraught, but finally decides to let him go. That's when he realizes that he may be able to rekindle his feelings for her, but this time as a genuine person who doesn't have to playact anymore.
That's why the amnesia is so important. It allows the story to make a clean cut between Hyun-soo's suffering as suspected murderer in hiding and phony husband and his new life as innocent victim of false accusations and even near-hero who has to learn to feel emotions for himself. We only see a glimpse of these new feelings in the end, with Ji-won, his wife, slowly accepting that maybe not all hope is lost to transition into a genuine loving marriage and family.